Every stalled negotiation needs a good shove to get it going, and
unfortunately for the NFL, it went right off a cliff.

Not until the league was humiliated Monday did it decide to try to settle
with the officials’ union, but by then it was too late.

The NFL had already lost in the court of public opinion. Now and forever.

Roger Goodell tried to tell us with the severity of his sanctions in
Bountygate that he was out to protect players and the integrity of the league.
My professed opinion was that he merely tried to cover the league’s backside in
case of any future lawsuits by former players. He could argue that he did his
due diligence, as opposed to all the commissioners who came before him.

Goodell lost any shot at building on that case when it came to the owners’
stand against the officials’ union. Coaches and players seemed willing to give
the replacements a shot, but the matter quickly spun out of control. They
treated the new guys like substitute teachers, taking advantage wherever they
could.

The replacements were largely unqualified, as was evident at the end of the
Green Bay-Seattle fiasco. They were put in an impossible position. The owners
should have realized as much, yet they chose to take the hard line. And for
what?

Early Wednesday, a source told ESPN that the difference between the two sides
was “about $2.”

A multi-billion dollar industry will concede to the 121-member union, but
that’s not why the owners lost. They lost because they proved beyond doubt that
money means more to them than safety or integrity, no matter what Goodell tried
to tell us in his actions against New Orleans. The league’s millions of fans
won’t forget this public relations disaster. They won’t get over it in Green Bay
any time soon.

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About Kevin Sherrington

Kevin Sherrington, a general sports columnist, was born in Dallas and grew up in Houston. He has worked at five newspapers in Texas. He has worked at The Dallas Morning News since 1985. He had no idea his career would come to blogging.